“I saw it on the screen,” said Tite. “In the previous match, he was excellent and here he repeated a high-quality performance,” he added.

Apart from goals scored, Neymar leads the way in all the above statistics for any player at this World Cup

Former England striker Alan Shearer on BBC One: “It was absolutely pathetic. There is no doubting his ability, we saw a backheel, a finish and setting up of the second goal but it is pathetic when he is rolling around pretending to be in agony. Why does he feel the need to do that?”

Former Germany striker Jurgen Klinsmann: “If you look at the whole game, how many fouls were there on Neymar? Loads. Was he overreacting for the Layun challenge? Absolutely, but Layun steps on him.”

BBC World Service Sport’s John Bennett in Samara: “The best and worst of Neymar rolled (pun intended) into one. He created some of the old magic in Samara and is clearly regaining match fitness step by step but yet again his performance will be overshadowed by his theatrics and he’ll make the headlines for the wrong reasons.”

“In Neymar’s defence he has been fouled more than any other player at this World Cup and he is regularly the target of rough treatment.

“Plus, let’s not forget that in the incident that got everyone talking, Miguel Layun did step on his ankle. Despite that, though, the reaction leaves a bad taste in the mouth. It was just unnecessary.”

“With Lionel Messi gone and Cristiano Ronaldo gone, you could argue that Neymar is the biggest star left in this tournament. I just hope it’s his football skills we’re talking about after the quarter-finals, not his amateur dramatics.”